Joined at the groundbreaking of the factory... First 5-year long-term service at the European branch
Toth Erzsebet (47), who works in the finance team at SK On Hungary (SKOH), is a veteran of SK On who joined even before the Hungarian battery plant was established. She is responsible for costs and accounting related to production materials, equipment, and services. She joined in December 2018, just after SK Innovation, the parent company of SK On, had finalized the land purchase contract for the Komarom plant site in northern Hungary. In other words, she is one of the founding contributors who joined the company before it officially existed and helped build the factory. “For a year and a half before the temporary container office was set up in Komarom, I woke up early and commuted four hours round trip to the office in Budapest. The excitement I felt when I first went to work at the completed office building is still vivid.”
SK On, established in October 2021 after the physical division of SK Innovation’s battery business division, has positioned Hungary as a forward base for entering the European market. Production began in January 2020 at the Komarom electric vehicle battery plant 1. The annual production capacity is 7.5 GWh, enough to supply batteries for 120,000 electric vehicles.
With domestic battery companies increasingly building overseas plants due to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and other factors, curiosity arose about the corporate culture and impressions of Korean battery factories from the perspective of local employees. Erzsebet received the first 5-year long-term service appreciation plaque at the European branch this February. What was the secret to a Hungarian person being able to work for five years at a Korean battery company?
In a written interview with Asia Economy, she said, “Unlike the local companies I worked for before, there is a unique culture in Korean companies. While any organization values harmonious relationships among members, SK created an internal atmosphere where superiors take the lead in pursuing employee happiness.” The finance team she belongs to has such strong teamwork that they even go on weekend trips together.
As a native of Komarom, working at a Korean company where everything from language to food and culture was different was not easy at first. The Korean-style greetings were unfamiliar to her, who was used to cheek kisses (bisu) as a daily routine, and pronouncing Korean names was difficult. “Korean colleagues created English names that were easy for us to pronounce, and when we had company dinners, we deliberately alternated between Korean and Hungarian restaurants. Korean women’s handball national team ‘captain’ Ryu Eun-hee is playing in a Hungarian professional team, so recently I went to watch a handball game with my Korean colleagues.”
SK On started operating the Komarom 2nd plant with a capacity of 10 GWh last year and is building a 3rd plant in Iv?ncsa, which is a 1 hour 30 minute drive from Komarom and 40 minutes from the capital Budapest. The target operation date is 2024. With a capacity of 30 GWh, it will be able to supply batteries for 430,000 electric vehicles annually. Once the Iv?ncsa plant is completed, SK On’s European production capacity will increase to 47.5 GWh.
When employees who will work at the third plant in Iv?ncsa came to Komarom for training at the end of last year, she felt the company’s growth. “Seeing Komarom engineers share the work knowledge and know-how they first accumulated while working at plants 1 and 2 with the new employees made me proud.” The number of employees has grown from 5 when she joined to 1,000 now. “I watched the groundbreaking for the factory construction, and on the day we produced and shipped batteries for the first time, I took a group photo with the employees in front of the truck. I literally joined when the company was at zero, and now there are three plants. I want to continue sharing many moments of growth that SK On will face in Hungary.”
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